Immigration Laws and Policies Since the (1980s) - The Immigratioin Reform And Controlact Of 1986 (irca), Immigration Marriage Fraudamendments Of 1986, The Immigration Act Of 1990 (immact) - BIRTHRIGHT CITIZENSHIP

Remember, remember always, that all of us … are descended from immigrants and revolutionists.

—Franklin D. Roosevelt

In "Immigration: Shaping and Reshaping America" (Population Bulletin 58, no. 2, June 2003), Philip Martin and Elizabeth Midgley point out that before the 1980s, U.S. immigration laws might have changed once in a generation, but the quickening pace of global change since 1980 brought major new immigration legislation in 1986, 1990, and 1996. The September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks led to antiterrorism laws that had considerable impact on immigration policies and procedures, and that effected changes to immigration legislation. This chapter covers the most significant immigration laws from the 1980s to 2005.

BIRTHRIGHT CITIZENSHIP

On October 30, 2000, Congress passed the Child Citizenship Act of 2000 (PL 106-395), granting automatic U.S. citizenship to foreign-born biological and adopted children of American citizens. In a November 19, 2004, press release the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services announced that since January 2004 more than 13,000 Certificates of Citizenship had been issued to children from eighty-two countries who had been adopted by U.S. citizens.